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Archive for the 'Financing' Category

Archimedes made the comment, “Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum strong enough, and I can move the world.”

“Leverage real estate to buy more properties. Invest in real estate with leverage.” You’ve probably heard the phrase many times. Yet it is difficult to get a clear answer as to what it means. All the while, you’ll be told that learning how to do this requires paying for their book or seminar. We’re going to break the mold and tell you what leverage is before explaining how to leverage real estate to build wealth. Leverage is a method that allows you to control properties with little cash.

Housing Trends And Predictions For 2019 and 2020

Is 2019 a good time to buy a home, sell a home, move up, or invest in real estate — or will you be better off parking your money elsewhere, whether that means buying a house in a different location or an investment in an entirely different industry? While no one knows exactly what will happen with home prices in 2019, if you have the right sources and know where to look, there is enough evidence to make a sound educated guess. Where will we see softening housing trends first, and which cities are still showing healthy growth? We examined all 381 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the US for local affordability (and change in affordability), housing market price growth, and the pace of housing market price growth to pinpoint where the housing market is slowing down.

Given the new proposed United States tax plan from the Trump administration, investing in real estate has some potential implications for a new investor. Most consider the changes extremely beneficial to first-time real estate investors in particular.

To cover the basics first, the existing tax structure allows for real estate investors to write-off all the expenses of owning and running a rental as those properties are considered a business operation. In addition, any interest on the mortgages for these investments along with any repair or management costs can be deducted pre-tax on the total income of the property so that the property owner is only taxed on the actual cash flow they’re earning from the investment.

You can calculate net operating income (NOI) for your real estate investment by using the generally accepted net operating income formula, which is your potential rental income plus any additional property-related income minus vacancy losses minus total operating expenses.

Keep in mind the net operating income formula can vary depending on who calculates it.

For example, most investors separate potential rental income and other income, but sometimes you will see them combined. Regardless, the generally accepted net operating income formula is your potential rental income plus any additional property-related income minus vacancy losses minus total operating expenses.

Once your offer finally gets accepted, one of the first things you’ll do is submit an escrow deposit. This money — your “good faith” deposit — helps show the seller that you’re serious about buying the home.

If the home closes successfully, that money is applied to your down-payment. However, if the deal falls through, there is a chance that you could lose out on thousands of dollars.

With that in mind, many buyers want to know what they can do to help keep their earnest deposit safe. Here are 3 foolproof ways to protect your escrow deposit. If you follow this advice, you can rest easy knowing that your hard-earned money will stay where it belongs.

Types of Mortgage Loans

When you start searching for mortgage options, you will probably find out that there are different types of mortgage loans to choose from. With so many types of mortgage loans, you may most likely don’t know where to begin. You know you need to pick the best mortgage rate, however, you ought to comprehend this doesn’t really mean going for the mortgage with lowest rate. This is because there are some other variables to consider which can influence your decision.

There are some mortgage options which should know about financing investment properties. Let us discuss the 4 most popular types of mortgages in real estate. The motivation behind this article is to educate you on different types of real estate investment loans that you can use in your real estate investing.

The recent negative moment in the Mortgage Backed Securities has evidenced a 1% (at times higher) jump in rates. A move such as this can force a pause for many investors who believe they may have gotten into the game too late and missed the best rate options, losing out on best possible cash flows. Recently speaking with an investor he shared significant concern for the difference he was seeing when attempting to close on another purchase this year with a 1% increase in rate from late 2017.

Congress has approved sweeping tax cuts and tax reform that have not been tackled by the federal government in over 30 years (since the Tax Reform Act of 1986.). The new tax law, formally referred to as “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” will go into effect on January 1, 2018.

This article has the most up-to-date information along with a summary of how the new tax law provisions will affect homeowners and real estate investors who own all types of investment property. Although this article generally does not delve into tax issues not associated with real estate, there are many new tax provisions and this is essential information for anyone that owns real estate to understand.

Real estate values estimation has several uses ranging from sale listings of real estate and analysis of investments to property taxes and insurances. However, it’s particularly necessary when it comes to real estate sales and passive investing. After all, the value of a property is not just based on the initial payment made or the expenses for property upkeep and modifications. Instead, a property’s worth is also based on comparing recently sold neighboring properties’ prices. With this in mind, below are ways to find out property values, including home value estimator tools and methods.

7 Ways to Determine Real Estate Values

I wanted to take the time to write about the top ten tax deductions available for real estate investors. Though some of this may seem relatively elementary, I’ve included a few gold nuggets for even our most experienced clients.

Real estate investors are always asking what expenses landlords can deduct. Because the answer to that question can quite literally be endless, we often tell our clients to record everything. For those expenses that our clients are unsure about, we ask them to create an “ask my accountant” category or account in their bookkeeping solution which they can discuss during a short call.

The combination of inflation and low mortgage rates usually leads to much higher compounded rates of home appreciation. For owners of property, high rates of inflation and appreciation are welcomed and appreciated. For buyers or tenants, however, the skyrocketing purchase and rental prices are not liked much at all.

When it comes to retirement savings, we all do wish for the same amount of investment freedom that we usually get with our other investments. Traditionally, most of the financial institutions offer limited investment options, starting with stocks and bonds to mutual funds and CDs only.

For some investors, the goal is to own properties “free and clear,” that is, with no mortgage debt. While this is a worthy goal, it does not necessarily make financial sense.

For example, consider a $100,000 property that brings in $9,600 per year in net income (net means gross rents collected, less expenses, such as property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and property management). The $100,000 in equity thus yields a 9.6 percent annual return on investment ($9,600, the annual net cash flow, divided by $100,000, the cash invested).

Taxes rarely make for exciting reading material, but if you own an investment property, there’s at least one set of IRS regulations you absolutely will want to understand: 1031 exchange rules. Why? Because normally when you sell an investment property for more than what you paid for it, you’d have to pay a hefty capital gains tax.

But with a 1031 exchange, you get to defer paying those taxes if you reinvest the proceeds in a new property, making an “exchange” rather than a sale. It’s just that this transaction is subject to some strict regulations, so you’ll need to follow the 1031 exchange rules to the letter.